My Wilbur (a villain tommy story)

A Broken Man

When Wilbur woke up in the morning the drugs had mostly worn off. The sun was just coming up over the horizon, and Tommy usually didn't wake up until it was high in the sky. It was a golden opportunity. He got up, careful not to wake Tommy. He tiptoed over to the front door, nudged it open, and stepped outside. The mountain wind whipped his hair into a tangled mess. The howling so deafening was nearly impossible to hear anything else. Oh and the fresh air. Wilbur had missed it so much. He took a deep breath. He could climb down this mountain right now, should climb down this mountain, and at least make an attempt at freedom. Even if Tommy caught up to him he should at least be able to say he tried, right? But something stopped him. Something in him that he couldn't explain wouldn't let him climb down that mountain. Maybe he was scared, or maybe he felt bad leaving Tommy all alone. Even after everything the boy was still like a younger brother. Wilbur didn't know what the right answer was, he supposed he would just have to wait to find out. In the end he went back inside, he made breakfast, and decided it was time to really get to know the new Tommy.
When Wilbur had almost finished making breakfast, Tommy ran into the kitchen with a wild look in eyes, stopping when he saw Wilbur.
"Wilbur?"
"Oh, good morning Tommy." It would probably be best to act as casual as possible. If he really wanted some insight into what was going on in Tommy's head, he needed Tommy to let his guard down.
"I thought you would have run away."
"But I didn't."
"Why didn't you?"
That was the million dollar question wasn't it, and there were a million ways in which he could answer it. He tilted his head, angling his face away from Tommy, and hiding the furrow of his brow. He could lie. He could say that he had realized he actually wants to stay with Tommy and that just the two of them could live here forever, but Tommy would never believe that. Tommy wasn't stupid, he knew Wilbur wouldn't just suddenly change his mind about wanting to go home. For now, at least partially, he would have to tell the truth. He flipped a pancake.
"Honestly I'm not sure" he shrugged. "I thought about it, climbing down that mountain. Maybe it's because I was still dizzy from the potion, and afraid of climbing down the mountain. Maybe I was afraid you'd wake up and catch me before I even got out the door, or maybe I was just hungry" he gestured to the pancakes, which were now ready.
When the two sat down to eat, Wilbur watched Tommy through the hair covering his eyes. Even the way Tommy ate was different then how he used to be. If Wilbur hadn't been so focused on himself, he might have noticed it before. Tommy had always eaten fast,but now he shovelled food into his mouth as if it would be Taken away at any moment. They both finished their food and Wilbur stayed silent. Tommy stayed silent as well for a while, but Wilbur waited, because Tommy must have something to say. Tommy always had something to say.
"You could have drugged the food, I've done it to you plenty of times. You could have made it so I couldn't chase you for hours. Why didn't you?"
Wilbur sighed, "Tommy I don't know where you keep your potions."
"Oh."
"Even if I did I don't think I could do that to you", and it was the truth. Even if Wilbur had thought to go looking for Tommy's potions, he couldn't stand to put Tommy in the same position that he had put Wilbur in.
"Even after everything?"
"Even after everything" Wilbur confirmed.
Tommy paused, his face screwed up in concentration "Aren't you mad? I mean, I tricked you into eating drugged soup."
"I'm not angry. I'm just sad, and I wish we could go back to the way things were before everything, but we can't." This wasn't the whole truth. Wilbur had been hurt and scared and confused and betrayed, but it was true that he wasn't angry. Maybe he just didn't have it in him to be angry anymore.
"So you just accepted the way things are now?" Tommy questioned him, making full eye contact for the first time since there'd started talking.
"Not exactly, but I see now that we have to keep moving forward." That was right, Wilbur reassured himself. He couldn't just sit back and wait for someone to maybe come rescue him, but he also couldn't just throw himself into another failed escape attempt. Besides that he wasn't sure he just wanted to escape. He wanted to go home but he also wanted Tommy to go home. Maybe that's why he couldn't escape just yet, he couldn't leave Tommy behind. He would bring Tommy home, he just had to figure out where Tommy's home was, then they would both be free.
"Um, I'll do the dishes" Tommy said, as he got up hurriedly.
* * *
Over the next couple days, Wilbur spent as much time around Tommy as he could, which seemed to make him happy, but he seemed nervous too. He often couldn't meet Wilbur's eyes, which would have been out of character for Tommy before Wilbur died. Now Tommy was cautious. He approached conversation carefully, like he had someone to hide. One thing that hadn't changed was that he a tendency to reveal more then he wanted when he got emotional, and so Wilbur made it his mission to push all of Tommy's buttons.
"Tommy, why have you suddenly been spending so much time in the house?" Wilbur had asked a couple days later while they watched two crows fighting out the living room window.
"What do you mean?"
"You used to leave for hours at a time and these past couple days you've barely gone anywhere."
"Well since you're foot is healed you could run away when I'm gone."
"And to think I thought you wanted to spend time with me" Wilbur pretended to pout.
"Wha- I- of course I want to spend time with you" Tommy sputtered.
"No you don't" Wilbur crossed his arms, "you said it yourself your just here to keep me from escaping. If you're so concerned about that you should just take me with you on your little trips into the woods, I could use the fresh air you know."
"No!" Tommy snapped, and Wilbur flinched. Perhaps that particular suggestion had pushed things too far, but no. He'd intended to make Tommy angry and he couldn't back out now.
"Why not, what am I going to do run away? We saw how well that's worked out for me before" he pointed to his newly healed foot.
"In case you've forgotten, you broke your own foot."
"Yeah, after I failed to escape and you sunk a fishhook into my shoulder." At that Tommy cringed.
"Look Will, I'd like for you to come with me and have fun adventures and all that but it's just too risky."
"You used to enjoy taking risks."
"Yeah, well, now I don't, so just drop it okay." Wilbur had no intention of dropping it just yet, he hadn't gotten what he wanted.
"What are you afraid of Tommy?"
"I'm not afraid."
"People who aren't afraid don't refuse to do anything risky."
"I'm not fucking afraid."
"You are."
"You wanna know what I'm fucking afraid of" Tommy said through gritted teeth. "I'm scared because Phil saw us that day, and he's going to get the whole server together to come after us. It'll be just like when they ganged up on me and exiled except this time it's not just my home they're taking away but you too."
Tommy breathed heavily, he always did after one of his rants. Wilbur felt a little bad about pushing him so hard but he needed to confirm something. Tommy was stuck in the past, it haunted him and made him extremely paranoid. One thing that didn't add up was how Tommy was going to get supplies when he refused to leave the house. They would be fine for a few days, maybe a week, but after that he would need to leave. Before he next left Wilbur would never to come up with some kind of a plan. He just needed to-
BANG
There was an explosion in the distance. Tommy jumped up, his face a mask of seething rage, but his at the same time his hand was trembling.
"Tommy what was that?" Wilbur tried to reach out to touch his hand but he jerked it away.
"The traps."
"What traps? Tommy what traps, what did you do!?"
Tommy rushed for the door and Wilbur tried to follow him. He turned around in the doorway.
"Don't follow me" he ordered before slamming the door.
Wilbur clutched his chest as he fell to his knees. He couldn't breath. He should have run, should have followed Tommy, should have fought him. But all he could do was hyperventilate on the floor. He had all these ideas about how he wanted to bring Tommy home but maybe he was just distracting himself from the real reason he hadn't run that morning. Maybe he'd just lost the will to fight.